She Was Waiting For A Bus
by avacadosbrokemyheart
Summary: Toma Balanov is waiting for a bus to work and ends up in a forest. Sounds cliche, right? It is. She meets a company of fairy tale like creatures. She tries her hardest to keep up with what is going on around her, but it's hard when you are moving all the time, surrounded by short, smelly men and in constant danger. This is not how she pictured her adult life to be like.
1. Chapter 1

_'_ _Great, first day back from my vacation and I'm going to be late,'_ she thought as she rushed around her small apartment, trying to grab both bags in hand, the bulky bag, that carried her uniform and equipment, and the lighter weighing purse. She stuffed her phone in her back pocket and made sure the music wasn't obnoxiously loud coming from the earbuds. Quickly, she slipped out of the apartment and rushed to get to the public bus stop. The grey sweater did almost nothing to protect her from the cold blasts of air.

The young woman looked up and down the abandoned street, the eerie darkness of the early morning slightly scared her. A lamp post beside her flickered, the snow falling around her fell faster, and the wind picked up. She thought she heard a crunch but when she turned no one was there, and brushed it off as her imagination. She shook her head at her own foolishness and moved her head slightly to the beat of the music that flooded her ears. The hairs on the back of her neck standing up sent shivers down her spine- not the kind of feeling cold but the feeling of being watched.

She turned her head once more to look around her but saw nothing again but the outlines of the apartment building. The brush of a hand against her neck and the sting of her necklace clasp breaking brought her to alertness. She turned and tried to get back the necklace but succeeded in only feeling the sharpness of a knife puncture her skin and reach deep into her stomach. The knife was taken out just as quickly as it had been placed inside of her, the ridges of the knife scraped her insides and made the pain more agonizing than it already was.

She was pushed down onto the ground and her head hit the curb, she felt her head crack slightly at the contact and heard her attacker dig through her purse and take out the amount of cash she had and ran off into the dark. She placed her hands onto her wound, trying to put as much pressure on it as she could. The pain coursed through her and the cold seemed so inviting. She could feel the warmth of her blood on her hands and the snow fall on her face. Her hands became as numb as her nose. The lamp posts around her flickered, she closed her eyes and her breathing began to shallow. The young woman slipped into unconsciousness and heard a melodic voice but could not make out what it was saying.

* * *

She opened her eyes expecting to be looking back up at the same sky but found herself looking at tree branches. Instead of the cold, she was met with a warm breeze and the sun shining down around the forest floor.

 _'Where am I? What happened?'_ this was all she could think at the moment and is probably understandable. She looked around and spotted her bags not far away from herself. The music was still coming from the earbuds, so she took her iPhone out and turned the music off. She stared at the phone and could see the words _No Service_ staring back at her.

"Fuck."

She brought her bags close to her and stood up, brushing off the pine needles and dirt from her clothes. A bird close to her chirped at her and flew away immediately. _'What do they do in those survival shows… Find water and follow it, right?'_ Even if she wasn't certain about that she decided to follow it. She gathered the bags and decided to turn left.

Walking through the forest was not fun for her but she powered through it. The scenery on the other hand was absolutely gorgeous. ' _The trees back home aren't a match for these ones that's for sure.'_

Around, what she assumed was the early evening, she sat down on a fallen tree and dropped her bags on the ground. Her shoulders were in pain as well as her back. The warmth in the air was reminding her of the amount of layers she was wearing. She slipped of the knitted sweater and was left her in the black long sleeved shirt. The hat and scarf joined the other layers in her purse. The woods around her became void of any of the sound of wildlife she heard only moments ago, she looked around, not taking it as a good sign.

* * *

Fili and Kili stalked through the woods to look for any kind game for dinner for the company but found a woman stripping off articles of strange clothing. Kili looked over at his older brother and gave him a confused expression.

"What should we do about her?" Kili whispered.

"I do not know. Just avoid her is probably best." He watched her look around the forest.

"She looks lost though. Shouldn't we help her?"

"Kee, I don't think that's a good idea."

The brunet rolled his eyes and silently placed the knocked arrow back into the quiver on his back.

"Fine," Fili said. "I'll go first."

Kili smirked and made a gesture for him to go out.

The birds around them went silent. Fili looked back at his brother and huffed. Slowly, he rose from the bushes and walked cautiously towards the woman. She had her back to him and seemed to be fiddling with something small in her hand, hitting it repeatedly on her palm. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she screamed. The woman with the black lined eyes fell off the tree and scooted backwards from him on her bottom. She kicked up leaves with her feet moving fast.

"I'm not going to hurt you." he told her as if he was speaking to a child.

"How could I be so sure? I know how these things end! I've watched the stories on the news."

Fili made a face of confusion, forehead wrinkling and mouth open before forming words that were suited for the situation.

"What are you doing out here?"

"I don't know. I was just waiting for the bus and I woke up in this god forsaken place."

He turned and saw Kili walking towards her. He sighed in both frustration and confusion of the present scene. The entire thing was ridiculous and he didn't understand why he had agreed to this.

"Who are you people?" she asked. She looked over their clothing a weapons, mind racing at the idea of what could be going on.

"That is my brother Fili and I'm Kili." The brunet- Kili- she reminded herself, shot her a bright smile which she could only give a small smile but looked more like it pained her to smile.

"Are you alone?" Kili asked.

"What does it look like?" she asked, bitterness lacing her voice.

"Fee, we should take her with us. She's alone."

"Uncle wouldn't be pleased."

"He can be practical you know. She does need our help."

"I'm right here you know." Kili waved her off and she scoffed internally. "Would you like to come with us? Gandalf might be able to help you get home." she looked to both of them and stood up. She looked down at the men that were shorter, much shorter, than herself and began to feel a strange feeling in her stomach.

"What is your name?" Fili asked.

"It's Avtonoma."

* * *

The three of them walked in silence for the most part. They tried to talk to her but she just looked down and stayed quiet. She was trying to piece together what was going on but she just couldn't. The amount of weapons, especially the blond man, worried her. She listened to them carefully and the amount of names they mentioned from their group gave her even more worry. If they were all as loaded as the two she had already met, she was screwed.

Fili would every so often look over his shoulder to make sure she was still with them. The shock of finding a woman in the forest had worn off the closer they got to the camp.

They broke through the forest line and she was surrounded by short men. Each of them possessed a beard and were stocky in build. Except for the shortest. He had a clean-shaven face and was by far the best dressed, even weirdly so, as they were in the middle of nowhere.

"We found her in the woods." Kili announced to the crowd of men.

"The poor lass is barely dressed!" one of them said. She believed that it was the one with the hat but she wasn't sure at this point. It was overwhelming her and she looked around and saw the tallest one to be an old man in grey robes holding a walking stick.

"This is Gandalf. The wizard in our company. And Thorin, leader of the company." Fili ushered her over to Gandalf and an angry looking man with long black hair, streaked with grey.

"Wizard? Are you guys like role players or something?" Toma asked. Fili shook his head, not knowing what a role player was, and left her with the so called "wizard" and grumpy.

"And what is a female doing out in the woods alone?" the grumpy one asked almost condescendingly.

"Well, like I told your blond and brunet buddies back there, I was waiting for my bus so I could get to work on time. I should probably get a car." she added on as an afterthought to herself.

The "wizard" looked down at her and leaned against his staff. He eyed her like some sort of science experiment.

"Do you know where you are?"

"No."

"My dear, you are in Middle-Earth."

Her eyebrows furrowed and laughed slightly.

"You're kidding right? Am I in America or not?"

"I've no idea what birthing goats have to do with this but I have never heard of such a place." Thorin scoffed and walked closer to her. Toma was starting to panic at this point and Gandalf seemed to have seen it.

"I don't think she is in the right state of mind. I say the girl travels with us until we can leave her close enough to Rivendell so she can be treated by healers."

Thorin glared at Gandalf and started to object but sensed it would not be argued about. She was dismissed by the wave of the hand by Thorin. ' _All of these men are dwarves. Wait, not in the right state of mind.'_ she thought. Toma sat down on the ground next to her bags and stared off into the forest. Until she felt a presence beside her. It was the man with the curly hair.

"Hi." she said, drawing shapes into the dirt with her finger, at the moment it was a simple flower. Toma looked over at his feet when she saw his feet and sighed.

"And I suppose you're a fairy, if these men are dwarves." The short man's feet were large and exceptionally hairy. She heard him chuckle weakly and continued on with her drawing.

"No, actually I'm a hobbit of the Shire. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End."

"Very formal," Toma brushed one of the braids that kept her hair out of her face over her shoulder. "Avtonoma Balanov. Toma for short," she said. "Do all hobbits have big, hairy feet? Oh god, that was rude. I'm sorry if I offended you," she spluttered out, her face starting to heat up and become red with embarrassment.

"Well, yes. And no you didn't offend me. Not many people have heard of hobbits." Toma smiled over at Bilbo in relief.

"Do all of those of the race of men get that embarrassed?" he said jokingly.

Her brows furrowed, not really understanding why the hobbit referred to her like that, "Are we staying here for the night?"

"Yes."

"I guess tonight will be awkward for me. They probably all think I'm insane because of what Gandalf said. They don't look very welcoming."

"Some are but for the most part you're right."

"You know from experience?" Bilbo looked down at his feet. "I'll take that as a yes." They sat in an awkward silence as the conversation came to a stop and she came to the conclusion that she was having an extremely vivid dream.

"Alright, dinner's finished lads!" the fattest dwarf said.

Toma decided that maybe the best thing to do in this dream was just to let it roll on and that she should just hang back and watch it.

"Lass, you want anything to eat?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks though."

The dwarf in the funny hat shrugged his shoulders and continued to pass out bowls.

It was perhaps the weirdest dream her mind had conjured. She sat back and watched them eat in small groups.


	2. Chapter 2

She tossed and turned, the dreams of a knife against the darkness of the sky haunted her. The red of blood oozing out over a blanket of fresh snow on the ground. She awoke with a gasp and flew straight upwards grasping at her neck. The sight of the empty camp frightened her more than the nightmare she had. Her hands shook as she stood up, examining her surroundings. It was impossible. She was still here and not in her apartment. Her dream was supposed to be over. Toma pinched the skin on her forearm, trying to force herself to wake up from a dream that wasn't taking place.

"No, no, no. This cannot be happening. This can't be real."

Toma slid onto her knees, rummaging around in her bag where she had put her phone. The small black phone brought her a small amount of comfort. The words of no service taunted her from the screen. She needed to know this wasn't real, that it was something she had come up with.

She climbed one of the nearest trees she could find-which wasn't all that hard- and began to climb up. It wasn't too tall but just enough to possibly pull off a bar of service if she got to the top.

"What are you doing up there?"

Toma shrieked and slipped on the branch she was on but caught a branch with her hands, she pulled herself up and looked down to see Fili pick up her phone.

"No, don't touch that!"

As fast as she could she climbed down the branches as Fili was turning it about in his hands, pressing the on button and jumped back slightly as he saw the screen light up. She hit the ground with a heavy thud and tried to snatch the phone away from him.

"Give that back!"

"What is it?"

"Just give it to me!"

Although he was shorter, he was much stronger than her. She clawed and grasped for her phone. Toma was not liking this dwarf at all.

"Please," she said trying to hold back her tears. This couldn't be real. It wasn't possible.

He looked at her, noticing her eyes shimmering a bit too much and her bottom lip quivering. A huff of air escaped his lips as the grip he had on the foreign object loosened.

"Here."

"Thanks, Мудак."

"What?"

"Nothing," she said, walking away and trying to not let the tears escape. No service, tiny men a wizard. This couldn't be happening. With a shuddering breath and shaking hands, she sat down on the ground, head in her hands, trying to process what was going on.

"There is no such thing as Middle-Earth. You're in your bed, You're just dreaming." she whispered to herself, repeating it in an attempt to make herself believe it.

Fili stood far off from her, still trying to wring all of the water out of his hair. He could hear her chanting and was starting to regret bringing her. Slowly, the others began to pour in from the stream they had been washing in, leaving behind wet tracks.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see his younger brother grinning at him.

"What's got you down?" Kili asked noticing the look on his brother's face.

"It's nothing."

"Whatever you say."

* * *

She stared at the ponies as the company around her moved to put their things on them. She was in deep shit and she knew it. She didn't know how to ride a horse let alone a pony and she really didn't offer much to the table when it came to helping them. They already had a cook and a doctor- healer they had told her- it was still the same. She didn't know how to use weapons. Deep shit, she was expendable and they could get rid of her any moment, leave her alone in the woods or something.

"What are you staring at?" the youngest dwarf asked. She liked him, he was the most civil towards her.

"I don't know how to ride one of those things," she whispered. She bit at her nails, nervous of what would happen.

"You can just ride with me."

"But they'll figure it out and then you guys will take off in the middle of the night without me."

"Do you really think that low of us?" Kili asked a little bit hurt by her assumption of them.

They stood in an awkward silence as she bit at her bottom lip, trying to answer to answer the question, "No, I'm just being paranoid."

"I don't think Bilbo would be too pleased if we left you behind."

"Great," she groaned as she followed Kili. She didn't know how she was supposed to get up on the beast but Kili held out a hand to her, waiting patiently for her. She looked up at him and doing something she rarely did anymore, she trusted him as he helped pull her up.

With arms wrapped around his heavily clothed body and a nervous heart, the company started to move. She wondered how they could do this for so long, sit on a horse and stare ahead for hours at a time without any source of entertainment. As she thought, the conversation picked up towards the end of the group.

* * *

"You've been silent for a while now lass."

Toma looked up at Bofur- she was sure that was him- blinking and moving her hair out of her face. "Sorry, what?"

He shook his head, a smile on his face. "I don't know how you can just sleep on one of these things."

"Me too, man," she yawned and straightened up to see above Kili's shoulder. "When are we stopping?"

"Soon, possibly."

"Possibly?" Toma raised an eyebrow and looked at Kili at an awkward angle and then to Bofur.

"Depends on Thorin mostly."

"I can see that; he doesn't seem like a happy camper."

"He is not," Bofur agreed as another dwarf shouted his name. "Kili. Avtonoma." He said, nodding to them as a goodbye before moving up closer to the dwarf who had caught his attention.

"That is quite a strange name," Kili said after minutes of peaceful silence between them.

"How do you think I feel."

He rolled his eyes in good humor and spared a small glance towards her. "And how do you feel?"

"Miserable."

"Is it the pony?"

"Yeah."

"Knew it."

"Cheeky bastard," she said with a grin. He smirked and maneuvered his pony to be next to his older brother. Her smile disappeared as she realized what he was doing. "I don't think your brother likes me."

"What? He hardly hates anyone. He just doesn't know you well enough to decide whether or not he likes you. Ah, brother, how are you doing on this very fine day?"

She moved her head to look away from the blond, thinking and trying to analyze her current situation in every logical way that she could. Toma thought that maybe she had been slipped something but she hadn't even gone out the last day of her vacation. Maybe in a coma and making this all up in her head to make up for all this time.

A voice brought her back to attention. She turned to find the owner of the voice and saw that it was Fili. She watched his lips move but didn't answer. He looked at her in annoyance, waiting for her to answer him.

"Sorry, I wasn't listening. You were saying?"

"I asked you, what is in your bags."

"Oh," she looked down, unprepared for the question. "My scrubs, change of clothes, uh, I don't remember what else."

"Scrubs?"

"It's for my job."

"So you work?" Fili looked at her strange.

"Yes," she said, furrowing her brows and a weird feeling in her stomach. "I do. I'm an emergency room doctor. What's it to you?"

"Just curious."

"Okay."

Toma turned her head away from the blond dwarf and back to the landscape. The green grass growing tall and being pushed down to the ground by the hooves of the ponies. She let her mind wander, thinking about how this had happened but the chatter of the dwarfs streaming in and interrupting her thoughts.

They were all very loud and joyful to say the least. A few, from what she could tell, weren't much of the happy type. The one with the head of tattoos and Thorin. There was something off about them as she looked at the entire group, they were very much so the brooding type.

She shook her head and turned towards the conversation between Fili and Kili. For once she saw the blond smile and it transfixed her. The smile reached his eyes and gave him a look of utter happiness. It was quite attractive to watch him smile and laugh with his brother she thought but she stopped herself as she understood where her thoughts were leading her to. She brushed them off and fixed her position in the saddle, looking straight ahead and trying to keep her mind blank. She could barely understand how and what the point of her being with them was and she didn't want nor need a crush or whatever the silly and short lived feelings that came with it at the moment.

* * *

The sudden stop of the pony made her lurch forward, bumping into Kili with her chest landing on his back and chin on the back of his head, making Toma bite down on her tongue hard and Kili's head throbbing in pain. In the end both of them ended up in some way injured from Thorin and Gandalf's sudden stop.

"Fifteen minutes and we are on the road again," Thorin shouted to the crowd of men. She huffed out a breath of annoyance, the air making her bangs move up in the air to only flutter down a short second later.

"Kili, can you help me down?"

"Of course."

He hopped off first and now that she looked down at the ground she realized how ridiculous she was being. She was only about three feet off the ground beside getting off a pony must be like getting off a bike.

She glanced at Kili's hand and she thought for a second.

"Never mind Kili; I think I can do this."

His lips stretched into a straight line and his eyebrows raised like he knew that it would end badly. He opened his mouth to argue but her glare shut him down. "Okay, whatever you need."

"Thanks," she said and glanced to her foot. Slowly, she moved her leg to hover over the pony's back but her balance and grip she had on the saddle had faltered and she could see her mistake in that last second before she hit the ground. She moaned as she blinked up at the bright, blue sky. A shadow moved in over her and she saw the silhouette of some one short and with long hair, which at this point could have been anyone to her.

"Are you alright?" Fili asked as he saw the new addition to their group raise a hand up over her eyebrows and squint up at him.

She was quite surprised of the civility in his voice. "I think so."

The dwarf held out a hand to her but she pushed herself up on her own. The dirt and rocks left imprints in the palms of her hands and she dusted the pebbles that had become stuck in her hand. Toma looked down at him and noticed how handsome he was and now she was more frustrated with her observation than her own silly mishap.

"Uh, thanks," Toma stuttered out before walking in the opposite direction, "I'm just going to go pee."

Toma face palmed herself at her stupidity when she had her back to him. Mumbling under her breath, she continued walking until almost reaching the tree line.

"Where do you think you're going?" Dwalin asked.

"I just need to pee," she said, puzzled at the question. Why else would she be going into a forest alone?

"You need to take someone with you."

"Not going t-" she stopped herself mid-sentence when she saw Dwalin's expression, cold and mean. "Oh how silly of me, of course I'll take someone with me. Any suggestions?"

"Funny," he looked over his shoulder and spotted Kili. He pointed at him and looked back at her, "Kili can take you."

"What?" the brunet dwarf asked, pausing in his tracks and eyes wide as if he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Take her to use nature's best."

"Oh. Okay," he responded, still confused. Kili walked to the woman and led her into the trees that engulfed them in the soft light; the leaves and branches blocking out the harshness. She followed him as he looked around some spots.

Toma was sure she wouldn't be able to go with Kili being able to hear her pee, that would be too awkward for her to handle.

"Do you guys have toilet paper?"

"We have leaves."

"Сукин сын," she said as she tripped over a branch but caught herself on a tree. "I hate this."

"Gets easier over time. Here."

Kili pointed to a spot behind a bush to where she could have a bit of privacy from him. Her shoulders only felt heavier as she crept behind it and could still see Kili.

"Can you move back a few feet?"

"Only a few."

"Thanks."

He hummed a response and moved away from her and kept his back turned. Kili blocked out the sounds, trying to give her as much privacy as he could. She felt even more awkward as she squatted over the grass.

"Um, Kili? Which leaves are good to use?"

"The ones on the bush, I think."

"You think?!" she practically shrieked as she stood up slightly to look over the edge and glare at him. "I thought you knew what you were doing!"

"Yeah, but I'm not an expert," he said in his own defense. Kili turned back to look at her but was caught in her glare.

"Turn back around!"

"Sorry!"

Toma squatted down again and grabbed some of the nearest leaves. "Я не могу поверить, что я делаю это," she muttered in her first language.

Kili moved on the balls of his feet, waiting patiently for her. He hummed trying to mask the sound of her muttering and cursing. Toma stood up and walked behind him; she tapped his shoulder, making him jump.

"Ready?"

"Ready and traumatized."

* * *

Everything was sore. She was tired and it had only been one full day. Toma knew that it would be tough adjusting to something she hadn't even accepted to be real but she didn't expect it to be this difficult.

Her head pounded from being under the hot sun for too long. The fire that Nori had made was too bright for her liking and had turned her not so good mode into pure irritability. She mumbled under her breath every time some talked too loud or made to much noise, even the frogs made her want to rip apart trees with her bare hands. He hands clenched into the ground, bringing up blades of grass as she let go.

"Toma?" Bilbo asked, carrying a bowl of stew and a water skin.

"What?" she snapped at him with a harsh voice.

His eyes widened and he looked down at her with a scrutinizing look. He could see bags under her eyes and her lines in her forehead and the skin between her brows from trying to block out the sunlight and squinting the entire day.

"Why don't you eat something?"

"I'm good."

"You need to keep your energy up. The trip will suck the life out of you if you aren't strong."

Toma snorted and looked at the curly haired hobbit, "Well before this, the life was already sucking the life out of me. Looks like things haven't changed nor will it."

Bilbo frowned at her words and set down the food and water next to her. He turned and left her alone with her thought so he could process his own.

She glanced up at Bilbo and saw him walking away to his bedroll then down to the things he left for her. Toma sighed and felt regret for her snappy tone but pushed away the bowl of food and water skin.

 **AN: Thanks for reading!**

 **Translations:**

Мудак- Asshole

Сукин сын- Son of a bitch

Я не могу поверить, что я делаю это- I can't believe I'm doing this


	3. Chapter 3

She listened to Kili talk but his voice was loud in her ear at the close proximity. Her head was spinning and her mouth and throat dry. Five days, that's how long she went without food and water. Yes, she was offered both to her on multiple occasions but she had denied it each time. Toma couldn't do it, no matter how much her stomach rumbled, no matter how restless she got. She wasn't able to speak for she feared that if she did it would only make her throat worse.

"Avtonoma, are you listening?" Kili asked when he noticed her unresponsive expressions and blank eyes as she stared to her side.

In truth, she was not listening to him. She couldn't focus on his voice but only on the thought of water and food. She would settle on eating anything at this point. Toma shook her head and pressed her forehead against his back as she felt another stomach cramp.

"You don't look too well."

She almost rolled her eyes but the cramp that racked her body was too much for her and she only gripped tighter onto the brunet archer.

"I'm fine." she gritted out.

"No you're not. Stop!" he shouted. There was a bustle as the company stopped. The ponies neighed and the dwarves asked very impatiently what the matter of stopping was for in a not so happy tone.

"Avtonoma, you are going to eat and drink something right now!"

"Вы не можете сказать мне, что делать, куриный дерьмо!"

"You're losing it! You are speaking gibberish!" he said indigently to the woman holding her head in her hands.

"Russian is not gibberish!"

She got off the pony and on shaky legs wandered to the edge of the forest to her left.

"Where do you think you're going?" Fili asked.

"I'm going to piss and no one is going to follow me!"

When she was out of range, Thorin leanded towards his oldest nephew. "Go after her."

* * *

In truth, she knew she couldn't. She hadn't peed in two and a half days. What she needed was time alone. Toma grumbled as she stomped her way through the forest and spotted a place covered in purple flowers and light streaming through the tree tops.

She sat at the trunk of one of the trees and held her head in her hands as she cried. No tears spilt but she acted all the same. There wasn't much that could bring her out of crying and she couldn't help but hate herself for it. Her chest shuddered and her throat burned from her silent screams.

The snapping of a branch brought her back to attention as she looked around her found spot of beauty. More sounded out but stopped.

"Hello?" she cried out with a hoarse voice. After no reply for some time, she moved towards the direction of where the branches were breaking and came face to face with a creature with grey skin, haunting yellow eyes and pointy ears.

Her eyes went wide and she turned to run but the thing grabbed a handful of hair and dragged her to the ground. It pulled out a terrible made knife, but menacing nonetheless, and slid it over her skin, not hard enough to break the skin, just the right amount to send shivers down her spine. The creature stared down at her and she thrashed underneath him, trying to throw him off.

"Help!" she tried to yell but it came out a raspy whisper. It clamped a horrible smelling hand over her mouth and smirked at her. The thing shifted its weight on top of her, to place it all on her. Once again, the knife made patterns on her skin and lifted her shirt and looked to examine where exactly would be the best place to start cutting.

It lifted the knife back to her shoulder and instead made a large incision on her bicep. Her mouth opened to scream but nothing came out.

Then it was all gone, the weight, the horrid creature and the knife. There was a flash of brown and yellow and she saw Fili slashing into it with a sword. It fought back against him with its own crude sword. The clanking of metal ringed throughout her ears as Fili gave a final blow to its head. It stopped moving and dropped to the ground.

"What was that?" she whispered. Slowly she raised from her spot and walked to him. "I almost died. I could've died. Oh my god."

"It was an orc." he pulled the sword out of its head and turned to her. She began to gasp trying to such air in and hung on to a tree, and she was sure her face was red, her gasps for air began to move closer together and it became much harder for her to breathe any air in at all. Fili quickly walked over to her but was swatted away weakly by her. She clung to the branch, shaking like a leaf in the breeze, her head becoming fuzzier than it had been.

It was real. She wasn't hallucinating, not dreaming but this was real life now. If she was dreaming she would have woken up by the knife being dragged through her skin.

The world began to spin around her. She felt a hand on her shoulder and pushed it off violently. Toma tried to walk off but her legs couldn't support her. Fili tried again to touch her but her shaking became worse. Her breathing was harsh and shallow.

"Avtonoma, can you hear me?" she didn't respond and he stepped closer to her, "Before he died, my father would come in with mother and would teach us to hoot like owls."

Toma snorted and gave a shaky laugh. The fuzziness began to fade from her vision. Her thoughts began to clear. "Thank you, Fili."

He nodded and looked over her bicep. "We need to get you to Oin."

* * *

She sat down on a rock and let Oin patch up her arm with some kind of super ancient looking super glue. Personal, she would have rather had stitches instead of have the stuff dry and crack onto her skin. But she couldn't complain much.

Fili glanced over at her as he talked with Thorin about the incident.

"What happened?"

"She was attacked by a stray orc."

"Were there none with it?" he asked.

"It was alone, which is very strange."

"She needs to learn to defend herself if she is going to stay with us until we become close enough to _Rivendell._ " he spat out the last word with such hatred that Fili didn't know a dwarf could have.

"We barely have enough time to eat and sleep as it is Uncle, I do not think we will be able to fit fighting lessons of all things!"

"I know but she won't survive without it."

Fili nodded and looked at the woman. He found the way that the light reflected off of her hair made his- no. He turned back to his uncle before he could let his thoughts wander about the strange newcomer.

"I guess we'll have to make time."

* * *

Her headache was only getting worse throughout the day as were the stomach pains. She sat down next to Kili as he sipped the broth out of the wooden bowl. He heard her stomach growl as she looked down at the not so appetizing dish if you weren't starving.

"Are you going to eat tonight?"

She looked up at him with big green eyes and smiled with chapped lips. "I think I am."

"Finally," She heard Bilbo said as he carried two bowls and a water skin to her. "It isn't healthy to not eat for five days."

"I know."

Toma gladly accepted both the bowl and water skin. She took a small sip of water and she had never tasted anything as good as it. The soup was bland but she was happy to eat it.

"I feel better already."

 **AN: Thanks for reading! Comments are appreciated!**

Вы не можете сказать мне, что делать, куриный дерьмо!- You can not tell me what to do, chicken shit!


	4. Chapter 4

She began to lose count of the days but all she knew is that maybe some of these people were her friends and that accepting that this was reality made it easier for her, not by much but it helped.

Toma felt disgusting. She couldn't remember the last time she had washed herself and she could tell that she stunk more than someone being dragged through horseshit and she felt like there was enough grease on her to fry chicken. And she is sure that if she has to turn her underwear inside out one more time, she'll beat her head against a rock.

Her lower half killed her every day. The riding was terrible and the only real running she had ever done was through the ER which wasn't as big as anyone would imagine, especially in the small hospital she worked at.

The flames licked the fire logs and she just sat and watched. She missed the internet and television. There was so many luxuries gone and she couldn't wait to get back home. But of course traveling on ponies isn't the fastest way to get anywhere.

Fili sighed as he held two bowl of stew and plopped himself down next to her. He needed to tell her and she didn't seem as irritated as most nights. He saw her smile out of the corner of his eye as he moved the bowl towards her.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," he stopped and scratched the back of his neck, trying to word the news nicely. "Thorin wants to train you to defend yourself."

She choked on the bit of soup she had in her mouth and slapped herself on her sternum. Her eyes watered as she looked up at the handsome dwarf.

"You are joking, right?"

"No. Uncle doesn't want one of us to go down trying to protect a woman that shouldn't be here." he said nonchalantly.

Toma stopped short of her fit of coughs and absorbed what he had said. He was right. She didn't belong here. Toma looked down and moved the bowl of soup to the side and fiddled with her hands.

"That was rude. I apologize." he said when he saw her begin to shut down.

"No need to, Fili. You are right though. I don't belong here. Seems like I tricked myself into believing that I did."

He didn't know what to say or even if he should say anything. Awkwardly, he got up and sat farther away from her and let his brother sit next to her. He looked down at his dinner but felt something chew him up inside.

* * *

The next day felt easier than the past for her, possibly it was the idea that it was real that she wasn't as tense and alert as she had been. She'd even let some of them call her by her nickname. It was relaxing to finally be off guard and rude to them and she could be a little bit like herself.

She sat behind Kili with her cheek against the back and felt the warmth of the sun beat down on her. Most of them-well, that was a lie- all of them were still, on some level, uncomfortable with her clothes. Toma thought they were insane, the long sleeve shirt and jeans was one of her more regular outfits and more than acceptable in her world. She kept forgetting that it was different, and she was still trying to get used to it.

Toma stayed like that for most of the day, content and lazy- as lazy as you could be riding a horse. It came to an end of course by the time they had stopped for the day.

Her training began soon after stopping. She had just gotten off of the pony when Dwalin came swinging at her with an axe. Toma screamed as she ran from the much shorter man. So perhaps it wasn't the best way for her to start training, Dwalin had thought, but it was quite entertaining to see her run around and scream for everyone.

Bilibo didn't and neither did Fili. The hobbit didn't say anything because he didn't know his exact standing with the company. Fili itched his arm and watched her scatter around the camp while Dwalin yelled at her to defend herself.

"Dwalin, stop," he said. "This is ridiculous."

He heard Thorin chuckle as Toma tripped over a rock. Thorin watched with his arms crossed over his chest and a smile playing at his lips. He knew it was cruel to do it to the strange girl but it had been a long day and everyone needed a good laugh.

"She has to learn. Surprise attacks is a good way to learn."

Toma looked up from where she had landed, hurt evident in her face. Her good mood had completely vanished within that minute. Looking down, she tried to hide the tears that tried to escape, she didn't want to embarrass herself further. A hand appeared in her sight, she refused to look up for a moment to wipe away the stray tear that had escaped.

Fili waited patiently for her to grab his hand. She held his hand tightly as he helped lift her on to her feet. He noticed her red eyes and felt even worse about how they'd been treating her.

"Thank you, Fili." she sniffed.

"I'm sorry about Dwalin. I don't know why either him or my uncle thought that that was acceptable."

She stayed silent but still had Fili's hand in a grip that became tighter with each approaching step of Dwalin and Thorin. He was impressed with the grip and knew he could easily shake her off but he felt it would be best for her to have some kind of support. There was the selfish reason inside him though, he just wanted to get a chance to touch her just a bit longer.

Dwalin stood in front of the pair and leaned against his axe. Toma looked down and waited.

"Here lass," Dwalin held out a sword- to them it wasn't much of a sword but a large butter knife- it was the lightest they had.

Toma looked at Fili. He nodded towards the sword, a go ahead, but she was still unsure. Hesitantly, she grabbed the sword. Dwalin had held it with such ease, like it had weighed nothing and she was prepared for that and not a fifty-pound hunk of steel. It made her lean over and loose her grip on Fili's hand.

"Pick it up, we are starting."

"I don't know anything about swords, I barely know how to hold a gun properly!" she exclaimed.

Dwalin groaned at the unknown word and excuses. "Just hold it up and we'll start from there."

She felt weird as she held the sword up like she could remember it from the movies she had seen. Fili covered his mouth with his hand, never seeing anything done so improperly, and wanting to save himself some second hand embarrassment, he looked up at the sky.

"What are you doing?"

"Holding a sword." she said it as more of a question than anything.

"This is going to be tough."

* * *

She never wanted to hold another sword again. Big and terrible blisters were forming on her palms and it hurt her to close her hands or even hold anything. She sat near the fire picking at them, going against her instincts of leaving them alone.

It was quiet tonight. Gandalf had wandered off, mad at Thorin's decision to stay near an old house- which admittedly was creeping her out- but it was just a one-night stop. She couldn't see the harm in it.

With Fili and Kili out watching the ponies, it was an uneventful night and she couldn't have been happier with that.

Bofur passed down a bowl of the same soup they had been eating every night. She groaned as looked down at the ever thinning soup. They were running low on food and would have to stop at the next town for more food supplies.

She sighed and accepted her fate of bland dinners for the rest of her life.

Half way into the bland meal, Fili came bounding through where the ponies were grazing. His hair was wild and he was out of breath as he approached Thorin.

"What happened?"

"The ponies were taken by trolls. Bilbo is trying to get them."

"Mahal," Thorin cursed and looked over the group of dwarves. "Grab your weapons."

Toma grabbed the sword to her left but Fili stopped her with a hand over her own. She looked up at the blond dwarf and he only shook his head.

"I'm coming too."

"Toma, you can't. You aren't that great with weapons yet," Fili held her back and placed her to sit on her bedroll. "We will be back soon. Just stay here."

With reluctance she stayed behind and watched the dwarves grab their weapons and charge into the woods.

* * *

For hours she sat there waiting for them. She fiddled with her phone until it died and then there was nothing to distract her. Toma lifted her shirt to her nose and cringed at the horrid odor that radiated from it.

She had been putting off changing into her scrubs until she had a chance to wash the clothes she currently had on, but she didn't think she would be able to hold out for much longer.

Picking herself up, she rummaged through her bag, moving her equipment out of the way and finding the gray shirt and pants. She stripped herself of the smelly clothes and felt the cold air nip at her skin.

Toma felt better with just her underthings on but with the possibility of the company coming back, she pulled on the clean clothes. Her clothes were clean but she sure as hell was not. Her skin felt sticky and darkened by the dirt she had been sleeping in.

She paced around the dying fire and made up her mind on what to do.

* * *

Toma crept through the forest, following the stampede of tracks they had left behind. She thought it would be harder to follow but their heavy steps were easy to notice, even in the dark.

A light shined through a part in the bushes. She crouched to avoid being seen and parted the bushes. Her heart jumped to her throat and the hand that held her sword went to cover her mouth. The sword clattered to the ground and everyone looked to find the origin of the noise.

The company were either in sacks or on a spit above a fire. She had no idea how she would be able to help them out of this pickle. Toma looked around them, seeing the large creatures talking over the very much so annoyed company.

She moved climbed a tree and looked above them. Examining the area, she found that there was no way that she could sneak one out at a time.

Toma stared in defeat at the pile of dwarves. The branch she stood on creaked but she didn't notice until she was falling. She landed on the ground with a hard thump.

The trolls and company noticed the ruckus and the loud groan that followed the rustling of bushes.

"What was that?"

A troll approached her spot and she began to panic like any normal person when faced with such a large, hideous creature. She rolled in the bushes and was grabbed around her torso by the troll.

"Look at what we got here. A female dwarf!"

"First off, you're wrong. Secondly, stop fucking manhandling me and let me down!"

Not the best wording.

* * *

She found herself in a sack and lying next to Fili, who was currently pissed off.

"I told you not to follow us."

"You were the one that said you'd be back soon, I waited for hours, and I got anxious and thought something bad had happened and look at that. I found you all in fucking sacks or getting fucking roasted." she hissed.

"Toma, you sho-"

She was lifted into the air and brought to hang above on of the troll's mouths, to her right she saw Bombur in the same position as her.

"Put her down!" she heard Fili shout.

"No! Not those ones, they're infected!"

"They're what?"

"They've got worms in their… tubes," Bilbo said, not particularly convincing. The trolls that held Bombur and Toma tossed them back into the pile of dwarfs, with looks of disgust on their faces. "In fact they all have it, they're all infested with parasites. It's a terrible business. I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't."

"Ow." Toma moaned, she rolled her body to face up at the sky. There was a burst of movement up by a rock and heard the company complain about how they didn't have parasites. She understood what Bilbo was up to.

She tried to cover her ears at the sound of the arguing that followed. All the falling was not good for her hearing nor the headache that was starting to form.

The sound of a rock grinding against another echoed through her ears and the light that spilled over the area they were in streamed across the company.

"Someone turn off the lights."


	5. Chapter 5

"Where are you going now?"

"To get Ori's sword back."

"I will come with." she turned back to see Fili walk over to her. He gave her a look that signaled that there wouldn't be any arguments about this, she waited for him and when he approached she walked forward to find the missing sword.

Together they searched in an awkward silence, Fili was trying to think of something to say and Toma was concentrating on finding the sword. He followed her closely, noticing the change of clothes. They were more modest than what she had been wearing but not so much in the way of color and pattern.

The silence was too much for him, he wanted to talk to her, get to know her but something inside him told him that she didn't want anything to do with him. Fili wasn't sure if it was just some insecurity in the back of his mind or actual logic.

"Fili! Found the sword!" Toma said. He hadn't noticed while he was absorbed in his thoughts that she had wandered so far from him.

"Good."

He was a bit disappointed at how quick she had found the sword- and unknown to him, she felt the same way- there would only be a small amount of alone time with her after this. Fili would take whatever time he could.

"Fili?"

"Yes?" he asked, waiting for her to catch up to him. He watched her stumble over rocks and twigs.

"Do you think that you could teach me to fight? Dwalin scares me too much."

He held out a hand for her to grab. She smiled thankfully and stepped off the large rock she was currently standing on. Fili bit his lip and thought. Pros: a reason to be close and alone with her. Cons: he would have to teach.

"I guess I could."

"Really?" Toma asked. He could see the corners of her mouth form into a small smile.

"Really."

* * *

She helped Bombur pack up the cooking supplies. He was very much so an organized packer she had soon discovered much in contrast to his messy eating habits. Bombur told her specifics of how he wanted one bag packed and it seemed to be like Tetris on steroids to Toma.

"Hurry," she heard Thorin say. "We are to look for their cave. It mustn't be far from here."

She sighed, knowing that this would happen. Not looking for a cave but doing something insane after trolls. With a final yank, she tied the bag on one of the saddle of one of the ponies.

Toma squinted at the pony she would have to lead. This would be simple, just grab the reins and think of it like walking a dog, except bigger and not as trained to voice commands. Never mind, she was fucked.

"Пожалуйста, перейдите легко на меня," she whispered as she stroked the pony's snout. The pony neighed and whipped her head back some. "Или нет."

Noticing that the others were far ahead of her, she started to panic a bit. There was no way she'd be able to catch up with them. She started moving towards the group but was yanked back by the pony. Toma stumbled back.

The pony stared at her with large eyes while Toma glared at the creature. They stared at each other for a time but was interrupted by Fili who had drawn the short straw and had to help Toma. He stood back with his arms crossed over his chest, watching Toma in amusement.

"Do you want some help there?"

"This pony is the stubbornest animal I've ever seen."

"Is that a yes or a no?" he asked.

Toma glanced at Fili and then back to the pony. She tightened her grip on the reins of the pony.

"Yes." she gritted her teeth, not liking that she needed help.

Fili took the reins and tugged at the pony softly. Before moving, the creature neighed loudly and scooted backwards in the process. Dirt flew around the hooves and Toma watched in amazement as the pony walked next to Fili with ease. She stood still, taking in the sight of the pony that had refused to move for her, trot effortlessly.

"Wha- how did you do that?" she said as she jogged to catch up to him.

"You can't be forceful with the ponies."

"I wasn't forcing her!"

"If tugging at and speaking harshly to her in foreign tongues isn't forceful, then I don't know what is."

"You're a jerk."

Fili rolled his eyes and assumed that whatever the work jerk meant wasn't nice. He walked in silence, the pony on his right and Toma to his left. He stopped himself from looking at her and replaced her in his thoughts with what would happen when they reached Erebor.

He had known of his lineage, had been trained to be a proper prince, a proper ruler, but it felt strange to be going from working in the forge to possibly ruling a kingdom if this task would be a success. It frightened him of the possibility but he knew he was ready.

Toma, on the other hand, had no such restraint. She glanced down at him and she cursed herself for it. She still missed _her,_ still thought of _her,_ but she knew that it was fruitless to think of the woman who had stolen her heart and crushed it in a second.

With the thoughts that intruded her mind, she turned away from the blond dwarf and could spot the company stopped and waiting for the two of them.

"We found the cave, _without_ your help." Thorin said, sounding quite bitter.

"Sorry uncle."

Toma kept her head ducked as she saw most file into the dark pit that was the cave. Kili stood by her waiting for her to move.

"Aren't you going down? You might find something you like."

"I don't know. It looks like it will collapse."

Kili looked at the structure for a quick second and shook his head, a smile playing at his lips, "Nah, it looks like it'll hold."

"Somehow, I don't believe you."

Together they made their way down the slope of the entrance. He went down with ease while Toma stumbled in the darkness over spare objects. If there was one thing she noticed the instant she was inside, was the smell that engulfed her. Spoiled milk and rotting cabbage were not a good mix.

She held a hand against her nose, feeling even dirtier than when she was outside.

Kili left her to look at arrows and she continued looking and saw a sword leaning up against the wall of the cave. It had a black handle, the length of the actual blade was about the span of her arm. She lifted it up too take a better look and was surprised by the weight. The sword was much lighter and easier to lift than Ori's.

She contemplated taking it. On one hand, it was free for the taking but it had also been someone's. Toma glanced around, wondering whether the dwarves would find her to be a vulture for taking it.

"No one is going to miss it. You should just take it." Fili said from behind her, she looked over at him and back down at the sword.

"You're right, it is easier to lift, and I think Ori will be wanting his back. I guess I will."

She watched him walk away in the dim light of the torch's that had been lit by the dwarves and breathed out before sheathing the sword.

Toma, realizing that most of them had begun to clear out, followed the path to the mouth of the cave. The fresh air that swept over her was a relief. She could hear the friendly chatter between the dwarves over what they had found and their brand new toys, shiny and ready to be put into action.

As she began to sit down though, she noticed that the birds had stopped singing in their perches far above them and had been replaced with the sound of leaves crunching and the sound of Thorin's voice yelling out to them.

"Something's coming!"

The company began to run in almost the exact direction that the sound was coming from which vexed her. If the point was to run away from something, why go toward it?

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" a man yelled.

He was extremely disheveled, his plain, brown clothes wrinkled and stain, his hair in tangles and-wait, something was off about his hair.

"Is that bird shit?" she asked.

It seemed that no one was quite focused on that as they continued to stare at him and let her comment go unnoticed which didn't bother her. It was far from the first time anything she said had been ignored.

"Radagast! Radagast the Brown. What on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf asked.

Her brows furrowed at the introducing of the short man but really, she shouldn't have expected anything less considering the names she had already encountered. The group disbanded, they stayed close to each other while Gandalf and the newcomer went off to the side.

She leaned against a boulder, something she seemed to be doing often, and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands. The colors and patterns that appeared when she had her eyes closed were there dancing around in her vision. The bright colors reminded her of her mother. She had worn pretty dresses of extravagant color and patterns as soon as they had moved to America and away from the town of Livny.

Fili watched her clench her jaw and her finger wrap tightly around the handle of the sword for a reason unknown to him. He turned back to the conversation at hand with Dwalin.

"You didn't exactly make a good first impression."

"Neither did she."

"Yes," he agreed, "But she didn't scare you."

"Aye, but your point being?"

"My point being," he started, "She's frightened of you and doesn't trust you."

Dwalin couldn't argue with that logic, which he blamed entirely on Dís for giving her eldest child her intelligence. "You can train her."

It would be less of a hassle for him anyway.

Fili spared a glance at Toma. She looked more relaxed than she had been, her face no longer contorted to look as though she was in pain or angry.

In her hands, she held Ori's sword. Now that she had the new sword, it was time to give the quieter dwarf she barely knew.

"Thank you, Ori, for letting me borrow this, I really appreciate it. Here."

"It's nothing worth mentioning." he said shrugging and reaching for the weapon which she gladly held out for him.

"I think it is. Again, thank you."

Dori grabbed his brother back to him, he was still wary of her, believing Gandalf had been right about her being not right in the head.

A sound resembling a howling wolf rang out across the clearing they stood in. Toma looked to Gandalf then to Bilbo. She inched closer to Bilbo, unsure as to why when she could have stood next to more experienced warriors. Although Bilbo wasn't a warrior or soldier, she just felt safer next to him, possibly it being his homely look.

Fili gave her a strange glance, questioning her and she just shrugged and made a face back to him in response.

"Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?" Bilbo asked. Frightened of the answer to come, judging by the look on Bofur's face, she paled slightly and felt her stomach drop like she was about to go down the first drop on a rollercoaster.

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf."

A snarl came from close by, and against her better judgement, she turned to see what sounded like a wolf, looked nothing like one. It bared its teeth and jumped at the company. Thorin killed it using his newfound weapon. Then another one appeared on a rock to the right of her, an arrow whizzed by her and hit the creature, coming from the lone archer in their midst. But it came back up trying to attack again. Dwalin took the initiative and swung the hammer at it, crushing its skull. Toma stood frozen, having never felt this afraid in her life. She saw a flash of silver and felt like something was tugging hard against her neck. Swaying in her spot she heard someone shout and arguing occur but couldn't process what was being said. Her head felt fuzzy but she powered through, trying to put up a brave front to whatever it was that was happening to her.

Next thing she knew, her hand was being held, led through the forest, and was running.

 **AN: Thank you for reading! Sorry this chapter took so long, school is a pain right now.**

 **Translations:**

Пожалуйста, перейдите легко на меня- Please, go easy on me

Или нет- Or not.


End file.
